1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light beam scanning apparatus wherein a light beam from a semiconductor laser or similar light source is modulated by image information signals and an image is formed by scanning a photosensitive body with the resulting light beam.
2. Discussion of Background
In a conventional laser printer incorporating a light beam scanning apparatus, it is not possible to change the thickness of lines that appear as an image since the laser beam's dot diameter is fixed. There has been proposed a technique for emphasis of line thickness by means of control employing a shadow mask, but the technique involves many practical difficulties since the provision of a shadow mask results complicated control in the case of lines of complex shapes and letters, etc. Another drawback is that if one attempts to alter the thickness of lines by using two-dot lines or a shadow mask, etc., the size of the image memory becomes extremely large.